NBC’s SHORT STORY
Log
Based
Upon Records from the Library of Congress
Jim Widner
SHORT STORY premiered over NBC on February 21st, 1951 as a half-hour program presenting a dramatizations of the contemporary serious short stories by American writers broadcasting from Hollywood. The short stories previously “buried” in Anthologies were brought to the public in each week’s drama. The series was edited by Hugh Kemp, script editor and directed by Andrew C. Love. Overall supervision of the production was by Margaret Cuthbert and Wade Arnold. The cast varied according to the script needs but Hollywood radio actors and actresses were used with a different cast each week. Don Stanley was the announcer (except where noted).
Note:
This log was created after research at the Recorded Sound Archives at
the Library of Congress. Please note my name when referencing
information from this log as considerable expense was made to
gather it.
As a part of the NBC “College by Radio” Plan, Brooklyn
College, New York, cooperated with NBC in offering a course in literary
appreciation with “Short Story” as the core of the studies.
February 21, 1951 Premiere
“Fifty Grand”
Writer: Ernest Hemmingway.
Story of the fixers and fighters and deals chiefly with a boxer who bets fifty grand two-to-one on his opponent and loses the fight by a foul.
Cast:
Wally Maher (Jack Brennan); Shep Menken (Doyle); Joe Forte (Collins); Ralph Moody (the commissioner); Fritzi Dugan (the girl); David Wolfe (Slater).
February
28, 1951 “Mr. Arcularis”
Writer: Conrad Aiken.
Adapted by: Gerald
Noxon
An ocean
voyage after a delicate heart operation.
Cast:
John Dehner (Mr. Arcularis); Georgia Ellis (Miss Hoyle & Clarice); Tom McKee; Donald Woods; Jan Arvan; Lee Millar; Charles Davis; Don Randolph; violin music performed by Karl Kalash; organ music by Joe Enos.
March 7,
1951 “Crazy Sunday”
Writer: F. Scott
Fitzgerald.
Adapted by: Clarice
A. Ross
A
Hollywood writer has a turbulent romance with the wife of a producer.
Cast:
Lawrence Dobkin; Lynn Whitney; Raymond Lawrence; Gilbert Fry; John Stevenson; John Wald (announcer).
March 14, 1951 “The Lottery”
Writer:
Shirley Jackson
Adapted
by: Ernest Kinoy
A
story about a quaint old custom.
Cast:
Charles
Seel; Gail Bonney; John McGovern; James Nusser; Jack Nessler; Louise Lorimer;
Jeff Corey; Irene Tedrow; Margaret Bryaton; Jeffrey Silver; Steven Chase;
Morris King (folk singer).
March 21, 1951 Program
cancelled due to special broadcast: United Jewish Appeal.
March 28,
1951 “Shadow of Evil”
Writer: James Aswell.
Adapted by: George
Lefferts
The wife
of a politician finally takes matters into her own hands.
Cast:
David Wolfe; Donald Woods;
Earl Lee; Kay Stewart; Marty Warren; Nestor Paiva; Shep Menken; Wally Maher.
April 4,
1951 “Honour”
Writer:
William Faulkner.
Adapted by: Vincent McConnor
A
wing-walker becomes involved with the wife of his pilot. Exciting end.
Cast:
Barney Phillips; Charles Anderson; Helen Andrews; Jonathan Holt; Lynn Allen; Paul Frees; Tom Holland.
April 11,
1951 Program cancelled due to special broadcast: Talk by President Truman
April 18,
1951 “Beautiful Summer at
Newport”
Writer: Felecia
Glzycka
Adapted by: Ernest
Kinoy
A
thoroughly miserable society summer for two young girls and their very stern
governess.
Cast:
Anne Whitfield; Charles Seel; Dawn Bender; Hope Sansbury; Isabel Jewell; Marlene Ames; Martha Shaw; Naomi Stevens; Noreen Gammill; Norma Varden.
April 25,
1951 “I Want to Know Why” and
“I’m a Fool”
Writer:
Sherwood Anderson
Adapted by: Bill
Hodapp
The stories
concern an American boy and his gradual “disillusionment” as he grows up.
Cast:
Jerry Farber (the boy); Anne
Diamond; Charles Smith; Felix Nelson; Gloria Ann Simpson; Gloria Grant; Joel
Nessler; Junius Matthews; Lamont Johnson (announcer); Michael Miller; Robert
O’Connor.
May 11,
1951 “I Am Not A Stranger”
Writer:
James Street.
Adapted by: Ernest
Kinoy
May 18,
1951 “Kirsti”
Writer:
Gladys Hasty Carroll.
From the book Head of the
Line, the story concerns a blonde from Scandanavia who wanted to live in a
glass house in America and manage things for her husband who is a pastor.
May 25,
1951 “The Piano”
Writer: Ben
Ames Williams.
June 1,
1951 “Fifty-two Weeks for
Florette”
Writer: Elizabeth
Alexander.
Adapted by: Richard
E. Davis.
Cast:
Janet Scott (Miss Blair); Jack Kruschen (Brannigan); Jeff Silver (Freddy); Edit Tachna (Florette); Tony Barrett (Howard).
June 8, 1951 “Champion”
Writer: Ring Lardner
Adapted by: Douglas H. Stone
Cast:
George Pirrone (Connie); Hy Averbach (Midge Kelly), Noreen Gammill (mother); Ralph Moody (Doc); Anne Diamond (Grace);
Inge Jollos (Emme); Gayne Whitman (Narrator); Lee Miller (Hap); Tom Holland (Hersch).
June 15, 1951 “The Leader of the People”
Writer: John Steinbeck
Adapted by: Jack C. Wilson
Cast:
Michael Edwards (Jody); Parley Baer ( Billy); Margaret Brayton (mother and Mrs. Williams); John Stephenson (father);
Ken Christy (grandfather); Charles Seel (Perkins); Charles Anderson (Narrator and Jordan).
June 22, 1951 “Ground Floor Window”
Writer: Ernest Kinoy
About a boy who has cerebral palsy and all he can do is watch the world outside his window.
Cast:
Don Diamond (Dan); Nestor Paiva (Mr. Gowar); Tom McKee (Skip); Eve McVeagh (Ruth); Constance Crowder (Ma).
June 29, 1951 “Doc Mellhorn and the Pearly Gates”
Writer: Stephen Vincent Benet
Adapted by: Sidney Gerson
Cast:
Earl Lee (Uncle Frank); Arthur Q. Bryan (Doc Mellhorn); Shep Menken (motorcycle cop); Grey Stafford (clerk);
Kay Wiley (file clerk); Lou Krugman (devil); Jerome Sheldon (Mr. Grew); June Martell (Miss Smith); Stan Waxman (Inspector);
Ralph Moody (Aesculparius).
July 6, 1951 “The Wanderers”
Writer: Ruth Suckow
Adapted by: Howard Rodman
From a collection of short stories titled Iowa Interiors. About a middle-aged minister and his wife who find a church in a small
town but are eventually driven out.
Cast:
Noreen Gimmill (wife); Norman Fields (Reverend Noble).
July 13, 1951 “They’re All Afriad”
Writer: Len Peterson (original radio play)
Simple story of how lower middle class life can result in an outburst of racial discrimination. “Departing from the usual format
of presenting a short story by a known writer, today’s presentation is an original radio drama written originally for the Canadian
Broadcasting Corporation, where it won highest awards as an example of “sensitive and adult writing for the aural medium.”
Theme is fear based on a feeling of insecurity in one’s job, one’s social position, standard of living, etc.
Cast:
Lee Miller (Arnie); Felix Nelson (Sam).
Series
Two: November 23, 1951 to March 14, 1952.
Broadcast
moves to Fridays at 9:30 – 10:00 PM EST.
Series
concept continues now with William Welch as script editor. Margaret Cuthbert is
identified as the NBC supervisor of Public Affairs Programs and
Wade
Arnold is identified as the Executive Producer. This second series was not part
of the “College-by-radio” plan.
November
23, 1951 “O’Halloran’s Luck”
Writer:
Stephen Vincent Benet
Adapted by: George
Lefferts
Story of
a young Pat, whose father wants him to go into his own law office. Pat wants
instead to roam the land and study
anthropology. The
boy’s grandfather, Tim O’Halloran, sympathizes with the boy. Old Tim relates
the folk tale about the way
O’Halloran’s luck
always holds out using an example from his own experience when he started as a
railroad worker in the
unexplored West
against the wishes of the man whose daughter he wanted to wed.
Cast:
Dan O’Herlihy (Tim
O’Halloran); Grey Stafford (Pat); Charles Davis (Rory).
November
30, 1951 “When Greek Meets Greek”
Writer:
Graham Greene
Adapted by: Earl
Hamner
Story
about wartime England and of a fraudulent college called Saint Ambrose’s
established in the city of Oxford in 1941.
The “staff” of the
school consists of one man – Mr. Fennick. The college is a correspondence
school with headquarters in a
Shabby rooming
house. Mr. Fennick insists his school offers the same courses available at
Oxford University. Excitement begins
when Mr. Fennick
decides to employ a beautiful girl as an assistant professor.
Cast:
Eric Snowdon
(Narrator); Naomi Stevens (Elizabeth); Donald Morrison (Mr. Fennick).
December
7, 1951 “A Letter from the Queen”
Writer:
Sinclair Lewis
Adapted by: Ernest
Kinoy
A
satirical look at a scholarly economics professor who set out to write a book
about a forgotten man who once made history
in our country.
Once a powerful Senator, the man, now 96 years old, is living in a tucked-away
spot in Vermont. The public
has taken for
granted that the old man had died. The professor finds the man, ex-Senator
Lafayette Ryder, a member of
President Grover
Cleveland’s administration and friend of royalty. Sen. Ryder takes an immediate
liking to the professor and
Plans to bequeath
his papers plus enough money to live comfortably to the young man so he may
complete the story the
Senator never had
time to write. Even the Senator’s
letter from Queen Victoria is among the gifts he wishes to give to the
Professor. But fate
intervenes.
Cast:
Scott Douglas
(Narrator); Donald Woods (Dr. Selig); Stephen Chase (Senator Ryder); Florence
Ravenal (Miss Tully).
December
14, 1951 “The Pot of Gold”
Writer: John
Cheever
Adapted by: Claris
A. Ross
A young
couple so intent on better jobs and more money almost miss the excitement of
living and loving. After twelve years
of frustration
always just missing the “big job,” they suddenly realize that they have been
chasing a “pot of gold” at the end
of a rainbow.
Cast:
Larry Dobkin
(Ralph); Georgia Ellis (Laura); Vivi Janis (Alice); Ken Christy (Mr. Hadaam).
December
21, 1951 “The Transferred Ghost”
Writer: Frank
Stockton
Adapted by: Earl
Hamner
A ghost
writer falls in love with the niece of the man for whom he is “ghosting.” To complicate matters, a real ghost shows up
urging the ghost
writer to make love to the girl instead of being afraid to speak his own mind.
Cast:
Earl Lee (Col. John
Hinckman); Parley Baer (Ghost); Tom Holland (Frank); John Stephenson (George);
Eva McVeagh (Madeline)
December
28, 1951 “The Trader’s Wife”
Writer: John
Kenyon MacKenzie
Adapted by: George
Lefferts
A slave
trader gives up the slave traffic when he takes his young wife into Africa with
him. The wife wins the love of the
natives
through her human
kindness and loses her own life to a jungle fever, only after she has freed
hungry, miserable slaves held
captive by another trader.
Atemba, a close friend of the wife and personal servant to the trader, stays
with her to her death.
Cast:
Jay Loft Lynn (Atemba); John Dehner (Harford); Kay Stewart (Lucy Harford).
January
4, 1952 “The Rocket”
Writer: Ray
Bradbury
Adapted by: Ernest
Kinoy
Bodoni, a
junk dealer, lives in the rocket age and wanted more than anything to take a
trip to Mars via rocket ship. His life
savings of $3000 he
needs desperately for the “business” will only buy one round-trip ticket to
Mars. So Bodoni has his
family draw straws
to see who gets the trip. As his wife and children draw the short straw, each
finds a plausible reason for
not going so that
the father may be the one to take the trip that means so much. Without telling
his family, Bodoni buys one
of the aluminum “mock-ups”
of the rockets as well as everything to give the appearance of a real ship and
travel. He then takes
his family on a
six-day trip to Mars unknown to them without ever leaving the ground.
Cast:
Stan Waxman
(Narrator); Don Diamond (Bodoni); Margaret Brayton (Maria).
January
11, 1952 “Dead Man”
Writer:
James M. Cain
Adapted by: Claris
A. Ross
“Lucky” a
young man living in the depression days of the thirties has tried all his life
to run away from punishment, but
something always
makes him return. One day, while riding a freight train, he accidentally kills
a railroad detective and goes
to a great deal of
trouble to make the murder look like an accident and establish an alibi for
himself. When he reads that the
police have closed
the case as one of “accidental death” he feels a strange compulsion to confess
and goes to police to give
himself up.
Paul Frees (Lucky);
Joseph Forte (railroad detective).
January
18, 1952 “The Seat of Violence”
Writer: Ben
Ames Williams
Adapted by: George
Lefferts
Story
about a man who hates his son blaming him for his wife’s death which occurred
in child-birth of the boy. To make up for
his hatred he
pampers the boy, who turns into a juvenile delinquent. A doctor gets involved
helping the father and son see what
is happening to
them.
Cast:
Jim Nusser
(Narrator); Junius Matthews (Eban); Jerry Farber (Ellie); Ted Von Eltz
(Doctor);
January
25, 1952 “The Hut”
Writer:
Geoffrey Household
Adapted by: Ernest
Kinoy
Story
about British Intelligence and a Major’s orders to shoot a civilian French
citizen who had collaborated. The older members
of the execution
group cannot understand a callous youth barely 20 who takes “murder” without a
qualm. Later they learn that
the youth had
hanged himself after he assisted in the shooting of the collaborator.
Cast:
Robert Boon
(Smith); Fritz Feld (DuPont); Lucien Prival (Alencon); Donald Morrison
(Medlock); John Dodsworth (Virian);
Ramsay Hill (Col.
Fayze).
February
1, 1952 “The Harness”
Writer: John
Steinbeck
Adapted by: George
Lefferts
A
prosperous and respected farmer is known for his adoration of his ailing wife,
Emma. An old man, Peter, the farmer always
was considered
good-looking and athletic. When his wife dies, his behavior seems to change and
it is then that the other
farmers who admired
him learn the truth.
Cast:
Nestor Paiva
(Peter); Gloria Ann Simpson (Emma); Charles Seel (Ed).
February
8, 1952 “A Frame Up”
Writer: Ring
Lardner
Adapted by: Ben
Kagen
A young
kid named Burke is a great boxer but won’t fight unless he is “stuck on” a
girl. An ex-boxer sets the kid up to fall
for a “society girl”
who it seems is writing him love letters. Burke decides to fight again. But
after the bout, the girl disappears
and Burke never
learns that his friend was “framing” the letters.
Cast:
Frank Gerstle
(Narrator); Tom McKee (Burke); Jack Kruschen (Jack Grace); Joe Forte (Nate);
Shep Mencken (Kid Howard);
Virginia Eiler (the
girl).
February
15, 1952 Program cancelled for a
special broadcast of highlights of King George VI’s Funeral.
February
22, 1952 “The Windfall”
Writer:
Erskine Caldwell
Adapted by: Earl
Hamner
A story
of Waldo Murdock and Bessie, farmers who live near the village of Brighton,
Maine. One day Waldo receives an
inheiritance check
left by his long-lost brother who died in Australia. The unexpected windfall
only amounts to $350 but gets
everyone excited
which leads to unhappiness and nearly breaks up the 20-year marriage of the farmer
and his wife.
Cast:
Gayne Whitman
(Narrator); Jeff Corey (Waldo); Gail Bonney (Bessie); Marian Richman (Justine).
February
29, 1952 Program cancelled for a talk
by Dean Acheson.
March 7,
1952 “The Apple Tree”
Writer: John
Galsworthy
Adapted by: George
Lefferts
A love
story about a young Welsh girl and a college student. Frank, the student, hurts
his leg while on a tour with a friend. It is
then he encounters
Megan whom he meets on a moonlit night under an Apple tree where he falls
hopelessly in love. Later,
Frank is prevented
from returning to meet Megan while he is with Stella, his school friend’s
sister. One night he is driving along
the road
with Stella when he sees a young girl walking among the rocks alone. Years pass and he marries Stella. They return
25 years
later to the area they first got together. He finds a mound under the apple tree and discovers it is the
grave of
Megan who
committed suicide by jumping off the rocks when Frank never returned.
Cast:
Dan
O’Herlihy (Frank); Betty Harford (Megan); Elizabeth Harrow (Stella); Bertram
Tanswell (Garton).
March 14, 1952 “The
Darling”
Writer:
Anton Checkov
Adapted
by: Claris A. Ross
This episode was taped. The story comes from a book that was translated from the Russian by Robert Williams.
Olinka
is a good, natural girl – someone who one feels he has known all his life. She
forms no opinions of her own and lives
in
the image of her current interests. First she concentrates on her husbands,
both of whom come to early deaths. Then she
concentrates
on the man she wants to be her next husband but soon turns to concentrating on
his 12 year old son.
Cast:
Marvin
Bryan (Narrator); Virginia Gregg (Olinka); Jeffrey Silver (Sasha); Mari Ann
Kape (Marva).
Series Three:
April 11, 1952 to May 30, 1952.
April 11,
1952 “How Beautiful With Shoes”
Writer: William
Daniel Steele
Adapted by: Earl Hamner
A story
about Amarantha, a beautiful young girl from the “Hill Folk” who is kidnapped
by an escaped mental patient. Through
him she hears her
first poetry because the man is also a student of great literature. The title
originates from the Bible: “How
beautiful are thy
feet with shoes, O Prince’s daughter. How fair is thy love. How much better thy
love than wine…”
Cast:
Gayne Whitman
(Narrator); Kay Stewart (Amarantha); Jeff Corey (Ruby); John Dehner (Humble);
George Fields (harmonica
player).
April 18,
1952 “You Could Look It Up”
Writer: James
Thurber
Adapted by: George Lefferts
A manager
of a baseball team hires a midget as the mascot. The midget finally gets a
chance to bat as a member of the
regular team and
the umps have to admit there is no rule against such a procedure.
Cast:
Herb Vigran (Scotty
McGrew); Jack Kruschen (Slats); Sam Edwards (Pearl de Monville); Joe Forte
(Umpire);
Harry Lang (manager
of opposing team).
April 25,
1952 Program cancelled due to
talk by Senator Richard Russell.
May 2,
1952 “The Biscuit Eater”
Writer:
James Street
Adapted by: Earl Hamner
Story of
a bird-dog and a boy who helps him become a champion and the hearbreak that
comes when the dog is poisoned.
Cast:
Gayne Whitman
(Narrator); Michael Chapin (Lonnie); Shelby Bacon (Text); Jim Nusser (Harve);
Charles Seel (Mr. Ames);
Earl Keen (animal
effects).
May 9,
1952 “The Old General”
Writer: Eric
Knight
Adapted by: George
Lefferts
A story
of England during the Blitz.
Cast:
Ramsay Hill
(General); Norma Varden (Emily); Alma Lawton (Helen).
May 16,
1952 “Scuttlebutt”
Writer: James
Michner
Adapted by: Ernest
Kinoy
This was
a LIVE broadcast. From the Tales of the South Pacific it tells the story of Scuttlebutt the dog and
the American
Navy. NOTE: At end
of broadcast there is a program salute to KGNC, Amarillo on its 30th
anniversary.
Cast:
Lee Miller (Jim);
Whitfield Connor (Mike Bates); Earl Keen (dog).
May 23,
1952 “De Mortuis”
Writer: John
Collier
Adapted by: Jack
Wilson
A beloved
doctor is caught in the basement of his cellar digging a deep hole and making a
cement floor to cover up the
excavation. His
wife, Irene, is gone and the two friends who caught the doctor jump to the
conclusion that Doc has
finally murdered
her. The friends tell the Doc they can’t blame him considering how Irene
carries on in town. Doc doesn’t
understand what
they are talking about but broods over the story. When Irene returns he invites
her to the basement to
finish the job.
Cast:
Howard Culver (Narrator); Marvin Miller (Doc); Anne Diamond (Irene); Ted Von Eltz (Bud); Jeff Corey (Buck).
May 30,
1952 “Three Pair of Heels”
Writer: Neil
Bell
Adapted by: George
Lefferts
Neil Bell
is a British author who describes the story as a novella. It is the story of a
young man who is hanged for killing
three people. Just
before he is hanged he tells his story to a newspaperman. NOTE: At close is a
salute to station KSYL
in central
Louisiana totally increasing its power to 1000 watts and moving to a new
frequency.
Cast:
Dan O’Herlihy (Tom
Cassidy); John Dodsworth (Harold Prescott); Ben Wright (Ben); Naomi Stevens
(Freda).